Pres. Obama to be briefed on progress of World Trade Center site during NYC visit

Jewel Samad/AFP/GettyImagesPres. Obama will be briefed on the progress of the World Trade Center site during his visit to New York City today.

NEW YORK — Officials updating President Obama on progress of World Trade Center 1 this afternoon will be able to report that steel has been erected to the 104th floor, where it will top out, with concrete floors completed to a level 12 stories below that, and the building’s glass facade in place up to the 77th floor, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said.

The president is scheduled to receive an update from Port Authority officials at the WTC 1 tower before attending campaign fundraisers at the home of Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, and at the Plaza Hotel.

The tower, which will be the centerpiece of the redeveloped trade center site, is scheduled for completion next year, when it is to rise to a symbolic height of 1,776 feet, including antennae. Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said concrete floor slabs have been installed through the 92nd floor, while marble is now being installed in the lobby and the B-2 level.

Coleman said negotiations are continuing with the National September 11 Memorial and Museum Foundation in a dispute with the Port Authority over costs that has delayed completion of the underground museum. Obama urged Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, who share control of the Port Authority, to settle the embarrassing dispute over one of the nation’s most solemn locations.

For security reasons, the Port Authority announced that the World Trade Center PATH station would be closed during the president’s late afternoon visit, and urged commuters to use alternate routes to get uptown or to New Jersey.

NJ Transit said today that it would honor PATH tickets on its trains, light rail line and buses during the president’s visit, and that it would cross-honor all of its own tickets.